Once your pool is built, a whole second world opens up: the gear you can drop in to make it more fun and a lot less work. Most of it lives outside the construction, so you can add it any time, mix and match, and upgrade as you go. A few pieces, though, like a real water slide, have to be designed into the pool from the very start.
Some of it is pure play, like slides, inflatables, and a floating hoop. Some of it quietly runs your pool for you, like smart monitors that watch your water and robotic cleaners that scrub while you relax. Here’s a tour of the extras actually worth having, split into the fun stuff and the useful stuff, so you can spend on what’ll get used.
Key Takeaways
- These extras aren’t part of the build. Most add-ons can be added at any time after the pool is done. The permanent ones, such as a built-in slide, must be planned during the design phase.
- Toys make the pool a destination. Slides, inflatables, and a hoop turn a swim into an afternoon.
- Smart monitors take the guesswork out. Devices like WaterGuru test your water daily and tell you exactly what to add.
- A robotic cleaner earns its keep. It scrubs the floor, walls, and waterline on its own, with no pump hookup needed.
- Buy what fits your family. Spend on the gear you’ll actually use, not the whole catalog.
The Fun Stuff: Toys That Make the Pool a Destination
This is the category that turns a nice pool into the one all the kids want to come to. A few crowd-pleasers:
- Water slides: a permanent slide is the one item on this list you cannot bolt on later. It needs its own water supply, usually a dedicated pump and plumbing line, and it needs real room: the footprint, the run-out, and enough water depth at the landing to be safe.
- Inflatables and floats: loungers, giant unicorns, obstacle courses, and water hammocks. Cheap, fun, and easy to swap out season to season.
- A basketball or volleyball setup: a poolside hoop or a net across the water adds instant games for all ages and folds away when you’re done.
- Dive toys and games: rings, sticks, and pool games that give kids a reason to keep swimming.
- Swim Jets: a counter-current jet pushes a steady stream of water you can swim against, so a modest pool becomes a place to train, and kids love playing in the current. Simple jet systems start in the low thousands installed, while high-end propeller units built for serious swimmers run well into five figures. Retrofitting is possible, but plumbing it in during the build is cleaner and cheaper.
The nice thing about toys is that they’re low-commitment. Try something, and if it’s a hit, keep it. If not, you’re out very little.
Quick tip: For anything permanent, like a built-in slide or a fixed hoop anchor, plan it before you pour the deck. Retrofitting an anchor into finished concrete is far more work than setting it during the build.
The Useful Stuff: Gear That Runs Your Pool for You
Here’s where a small gadget can save you real time and stress. Two kinds of gear are worth your attention, and both work on any existing pool.
Smart Water Monitors Like WaterGuru
Testing your water by hand is the chore most owners quietly dread. Smart monitors do it for you. A device like WaterGuru sits right in your skimmer, automatically tests the water every day, and sends the readings to an app on your phone, along with tailored advice on exactly what to add and how much, based on your specific pool. Depending on the model, it tracks free chlorine and pH, or a fuller set that adds alkalinity, cyanuric acid, and calcium hardness. If something drifts out of range, you get an alert before it turns into a green pool. For anyone who’d rather skip the test strips, it’s a genuine quality-of-life upgrade.
Robotic Pool Cleaners
If you buy one useful extra, make it a good robotic cleaner. Unlike older suction or pressure cleaners that run off your pool’s pump and plumbing, a robotic cleaner is self-contained: you drop it in, plug it into an outlet, and it scrubs the floor, climbs the walls, and cleans the waterline on its own, capturing debris in its own filter basket. It doesn’t tax your pump or filter, it sips electricity, and the better ones map your pool so they cover every inch. It’s the closest thing to a robot vacuum for your backyard, and it hands you back the time you’d otherwise spend brushing and vacuuming. When you shop, look for one sized for your pool that climbs walls and has an easy-to-empty filter.
A Few More Worth Knowing About
Beyond the headliners, a handful of smaller extras punch above their weight. A solar or safety cover keeps heat in, debris out, and water from evaporating. Floating or color-changing lights make night swims feel special without any wiring. Comfort-minded floats with cup holders and shade earn their spot on lazy afternoons. And a simple poolside storage box keeps all of the above tidy so your deck doesn’t turn into a toy pile. None of it is essential, but each one quietly makes the pool nicer to live with.
How to Decide What to Buy
The trap with pool extras is buying the whole catalog and using half of it. A better approach is to start with how your family actually uses the pool. Kids who live in the water? Lean into toys and a slide. Hate testing chemicals? A smart monitor pays for itself in saved weekends. Tired of brushing? The robotic cleaner is the easy yes. Buy one or two things that solve a real annoyance or add real fun, live with them for a season, then add more if you want. Because none of this is tied to the build, you’re never locked in.
Frequently Asked Questions
It’s a device that tests your pool water for you and sends the readings to a phone app. Something like WaterGuru sits in your skimmer, checks the water daily, and tells you exactly what to add based on your pool. It replaces manual test strips and takes the guesswork out of chemistry.
For most owners, yes. A robotic cleaner is self-contained: it drops in, plugs into an outlet, and scrubs the floor, walls, and waterline on its own without using your pump or plumbing. It uses little electricity and saves you the time you’d spend brushing and vacuuming.
A suction cleaner runs off your pool’s pump and filter, so it adds load to your system. A robotic cleaner is independent, with its own motor and filter basket, so it cleans more thoroughly, climbs walls, and doesn’t tax your equipment. Robotic cleaners cost more up front, but they do more.
Only the permanent ones. Inflatables, floats, and portable hoops you can add at any time. But a built-in slide or a fixed hoop anchor is much easier to install before the deck is poured, so mention those to your builder early.
Yes, that’s the whole point. Toys, floats, smart monitors, and robotic cleaners are all aftermarket add-ons that work on any finished pool. You can start with one or two and build your setup over time.
The Bottom Line
The extras are where owning a pool gets genuinely fun and genuinely easy. Toys like slides, inflatables, and a hoop turn a swim into an event. Smart monitors like WaterGuru take the guesswork out of your water, and a good robotic cleaner quietly does the job you’d rather not. Best of all, you can add any of it whenever you like, so you can start simple and build the setup that fits your family. Spend on what gets used, and the pool you built becomes the pool everyone actually lives in.